In what could be described as one of the fastest Police manhunt in recent times in Central West Region (CWR), Police in Mchinji have recovered MK11 million stolen cash within two hours on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, by intercepting three criminals who attempted to cruise away with the loot from Mchinji boma to an unspecified destination.
The theft incident happened in the morning at around 10:00 hours and by 11:30 hours, the stolen cash was recovered, culminating in an arrest of two Tanzanians and one Malawian, in the process.
The suspects holding Tanzanian passports have been identified as Sultan Angolile Mwambete (52), passport number TAE273003 and Joshua Singiombo Kibale (57), passport number TAE101941. They both hail from Rungwe village, Traditional Authority Mwakuysa in Mbeya district, Tanzania. The immigration stamp in their passports show that they entered Malawi on October 28, 2020, through Songwe border post in Karonga.
The Malawian, identified as Richard Jack (38) hails from Mmanga village, Traditional Authority Msamala, in Balaka district.
The complainant is a taxi driver Brian Phiri, who was sent by his boss to deposit the cash at one of the banks at the boma.
On his way to the bank, he offered a lift to the two Tanzanians who also disembarked at the bank premises allegedly to buy United States dollars (USD).
However, network hitches inside the banking hall forced them to consider visiting another bank for the transaction.
Phiri then stopped at a nearby pharmacy store to buy medicine and locked the car, leaving behind the laptop bag which contained the money.
Upon his return from the shop, he found the car door open and the bag had disappeared.
The onlookers at the scene confided to him that two people, whom they thought were his friends, came on a blue Mazda Demio and sped off carrying his bag.
Phiri rushed to Mchinji Police station to report the matter. Police promptly launched a manhunt and wired intelligence to possible exit points of Kamwendo, Kapiri and Mkanda, including the road to the Zambian border.
At exactly 11:30 hours, the four Police traffic officers who had erected a checkpoint at Kapiri, intercepted the marked Demio, registration number MHG 4909, being driven by Jack who claimed that he was hired by the two Tanzanians.
They were immediately arrested on the spot and the MK11 million cash has been recovered in its entirety.
The three suspects will appear in Court to answer a case of theft. The two-hour manhunt operation that started at Mchinji boma ended on a high note at Kapiri, along the Mchinji – Santhe road.
